Leaders, You are not alone!

In this edition, we feel compelled to return to the vexing situation facing the largest of the Antillean chain of islands- Cuba, which, along with all members of the Caribbean Community- CARICOM- are currently subjected to the naked aggression by our most powerful northern neighbour, the United States of America.

The latest Executive Order by US president Donald Trump, alleges that Cuba presents “an unusual and extraordinary threat… to the national security” of the United States. Said order alleges that the Government of Cuba “aligns itself and provides support for numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors adverse to the United States”. Those named are the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the Government of Iran, and the Iran-allied groups,Hamas and Hizbollah, that bear the label of terrorist organisations.

Cuba’s response has been immediate and direct. President Miguel Diaz Canel called a press conference on Thursday morning during which he refuted the claims contained in the US Executive Order. He went further to recall the concrete example of the bombing of the Cubana Airways flight off Barbados on October 6, 1976 in which all 73 people on board died, following which the United States of America gave shelter to the confessed authors of that act of terrorism.

It was a terrorist act perpetrated against the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, which lost medical students returning to university in Cuba. Those could have been students from any of the many nations who, a few years later, took similar flights to pursue dreams of a higher education. It was an act carried out against the Korean people whose fencing team was travelling back from a sporting tournament in Guyana. It was an act against the Cuban people whose citizens were returning home.

It was also therefore an act of regional and international terrorism which impacted Trinidad and Tobago, from where the assassins boarded that ill-fated flight. It was an act of terrorism against the people of Barbados which forever would be associated with this horrendous act, often called the Crime of Barbados, when it was in fact a crime committed OFF the shores of this innocent Caribbean nation.

The Cuban president on Thursday said that any response by the people would have to be done in popular consultation with all the population, and especially with the youth. He said as well that it was the path chosen when the new Family Code was arrived at, and is the way which his government functions.

What have been the responses so far from governments of CARICOM to the US pressure to accept deportees from the USA, and to end their relationship with the Cuban Medical Services which has for over a decade supplied trained health personnel to assist in our hospitals and clinics?

Has any of our leaders gone to the people who elected them and outlined what they are being faced with from the hegemon?

Certainly not St. Lucia, where its prime minister only recently received an overwhelming mandate to govern on December 2, 2025. Neither have the Bahamian people been taken into confidence to consult their thinking about ending the programme of medical assistance from Cuba. Not only have many Cubans been working in the Bahamas on contract for many years, but Cuban hospitals in Havana are choices for Bahamians seeking specialized medical attention. It would seem that, as soon as the US viceroy questioned the existence of Cuban medical personnel, the Bahamian government moved with dispatch to find personnel from Africa. Similarly Antigua and Barbuda seems to have awakened to the availability of nurses from Ghana.

Individual responses seem to be the new pattern in the CARICOM Region when our governments are faced with threats from the US. But if one scours social media, comments from throughout the CARICOM countries suggest that our people yearn for the kind of leadership we had when the giants Michael Manley, Errol Barrow, Eric Williams and Forbes Burnham banded together and affirmed the sovereignty of our region. Fractured responses can only lead to displays of weakness, and serve no one any good. Truth be told, the countries of this Region have to wake up to a new geo-political reality that is inward-looking, led by the current US administration.

Still, our governments need to be speaking openly with their populations and consulting their feelings about the threats to our sovereignty. Our leaders must know that they are not alone in this battle. Just as our votes are campaigned for at elections, our leaders must take their populations into their confidence and explain the pressures they face.

In SVG Dr. Godwin Friday and his new administration certainly have major challenges as they go forward to present a Budget to the nation in the House of Assembly come Monday, February 9, 2026.

But not so far in their sights must be the questions which must be placed on their plates in the coming weeks – that of accommodating or not, deportees from the USA, and the continuation of our medical agreements with the Republic of Cuba. This honeymoon seems set to end very soon, and firm, strategic leadership will be needed.